Dun-what?: Bethesda details Dishonored 2 setting

The original Dishonored was a fantastic game for several reasons — the flexible approach to stealth, the varied missions, and the tremendous voice acting being a few — but its steampunk city of Dunwall was the star of the show, with its rats, walking corpses and tall metal structures adding a sense of hostility that even 20 charging guards could not. With the sequel, developer Arkane Studios is throwing that all away for a new, brighter, city called Karnaca, but it’s no less dangerous.

While co-creative director Harvey Smith was understandably vague in his explanation of the setting change, it appears Dishonored 2 will feature an exposition fairly similar to the first game.

“Let’s just say there’s an inciting incident at the beginning of the game, and whether you’re playing as Corvo or Emily, you’re an outlaw: you have to flee Dunwall Tower,” Smith tells Bethesda’s Gary Steinman at a video recorded during E3.

Karnaca draws influence from far different architecture and landscapes than Dunwall, with Smith comparing it to “Greece or Spain or Italy” in contrast to the Victorian British aesthetic of the previous game’s city. The water now seems inviting (though it very well might feature the aggressive fish of Dunwall), and buildings sit perched on mountaintops surrounded by greenery.

Dishonored‘s famous rats are also gone, replaced with “blood flies” that make their homes inside corpses, and this can be used to your advantage: kill a guard and leave his corpse in the street, and a swarm of blood flies just may appear to take care of anyone walking by.

Dishonored 2 launches next year for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, and it will allow you to play as both Emily Kaldwin, who was the young princess from the first game, and original protagonist Corvo Attano. If you’d like to play Dishonored on your new system before then, check out the Dishonored: Definitive Edition.